>> Welcome to the Annual Meeting 2022 in the spring of Davos.

History at a turning point.

♪♪ >> Hello and welcome to "GZERO World."

I'm Ian Bremmer, and I'm coming to you today from the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

Because of the pandemic, it's been two full years since this gathering of public and private sector leaders has taken place.

And needless to say, there was quite a bit to discuss.

The theme this year -- history at a turning point.

As a war rages on the European continent, its cascading impact can be felt all over the world.

I'll talk about that and more with some of the thought leaders at the forum.

And later, Russian war crimes on display at the heart of this Alpine village.

>> This is not a war that is simply about territory.

This is a war about values.

>> Don't worry, I've also got your "Puppet Regime."

>> Gosh darn it.

My approval rating's plummeting faster than my energy levels after breakfast.

>> But first, a word from the folks who help us keep the lights on.

>> Major corporate funding provided by founding sponsor First Republic.

At First Republic, our clients come first.

Taking the time to listen helps us provide customized banking and wealth-management solutions.

More on our clients at firstrepublic.com.

Additional funding provided by... ...and by... >> It's the Cher or maybe Bono of the international conference scene.

It's famous enough to be known by one name only -- Davos.

Since 1971, the World Economic Forum has held annual meetings in this picturesque Alpine village.

It's home to about 10,000 year-round residents, and for one week each year, some of the most powerful people on the planet -- world leaders, billionaires and yes, the actual Bono.

>> Capitalism has taken more people out of poverty than any other ism.

But it is a wild beast.

>> The name Davos has also become synonymous with a specific worldview, a globalist agenda that promotes free markets, trade and liberal democracy, and encourages international cooperation on big issues like climate change and sustainability.

The philosophy was that making the world a more connected place, moving ideas, products and people around the globe would pull more of the population out of poverty and expand middle-income households everywhere.

And for a long time, it seemed to be working.

In 2018, the World Economic Forum reported that for the first time in history, half of the world's population was middle class or wealthier and the number of extremely poor people had been drastically reduced.

But what a difference a few years can make.

Last week, as titans of industry and government gathered in the town with the highest elevation in Europe, faith in the forum's global vision was hitting a new low.

The last time the group met in person was January 2020, and within a matter of weeks, the pandemic was making its way around the world, one that has since killed an estimated 15 million people and exposed deep flaws in how the world's most powerful nations respond to global emergencies.

Economic setbacks in the past two years have taken a toll on the progress of middle-income people globally.

And for the first time in more than two decades, poverty levels rose.

That alone could have been a central theme of this year's forum until another crisis erupted on the European continent.

Russia's war in Ukraine has just passed the three-month mark, already leaving a trail of destruction that will take billions of dollars and many years to rebuild.

Its effects around the world can't be underestimated.

Skyrocketing energy prices, food inflation and supply chain disruption.

Most alarming -- growing numbers of people facing acute hunger.

We've told you before on the show about the connection between Russia and Ukraine's wheat production and food supplies for some of the world's most vulnerable nations.

In fact, combined, Russia and Ukraine produce almost a third of the world's wheat.

As export and production grind to a halt, hundreds of millions of people are food-insecure.

More than 40 million could starve.

And all of this combined set a tone at Davos unlike any I've seen before -- the world facing a make-or-break moment.

>> The future is not just happening.

The future is built by us, by a powerful community, as you here in this room.

>> Still, there were reasons for optimism.

Ukraine's president, Volodymyr Zelensky, brought the opening session's crowd to its feet and his message became a mantra throughout the forum.

The unification from the West that we are seeing over the war in Ukraine could create the kind of turning point forum founder Klaus Schwab set as this year's theme.

But there are many pitfalls along the way, and that's where we begin with Wolfgang Ischinger, the former chairman of the Munich Security Conference, who served as Germany's ambassador to the United States.

And here's our conversation.

With my friend Wolfgang Ischinger here at the World Economic Forum in Davos.

Wolfgang, so state of transatlantic relations today from the Davos perspective, what do you think?

>> Good shape.

Better than at any time in recent memory.

If we had had a Davos a year ago, we would have been talking about the debacle over Afghanistan, et cetera.

We're in good shape now.

NATO is essentially, you know, on track.

The European Union has surprisingly not fallen apart.

I think my only concern is if the -- If it is correct to assume that this war in Ukraine will drag on for not weeks, but months, are we going to be in good shape three, six, nine months down the road?

That's my concern.

Are we going to have the stamina to stay on course?

>> Now, question.

To the extent that war fatigue is starting to set in over time and again, I think most people presume this is not ending any time soon.

Does it come first from the Europeans or from the Americans and why?

>> Well, let's talk about America for a moment.

You guys have elections coming up, midterm elections.

And I'm not so certain that the average American voter is going to like the idea of paying higher gas prices and spending more money on foreign expeditions, et cetera, et cetera.

So I'm worried a little bit about the American commitment.

longer term.

In Europe, I think at the moment we're in good shape.

But of course we have these outliers.

We have Viktor Orban.

>> Hungary.

>> We have Hungary, and we have a couple of other partners that have specific interests.

Germany has its own problem with gas.

I wish I could say in 6 weeks or in 12 weeks, we're going to be able to cut gas imports from Russia.

It's hard to do.

It's hard to do.

And I feel sorry for those in my own government who have to respond to this urgent question from our Ukrainian partners.

When are you going to stop financing the Russian war of aggression by continuing to buy this stuff?

But then again, you know, it's not going to help if Germany cuts gas imports now with the obvious -- obvious consequence of a significant recession.

Then, of course, the commitment by the German wider public for our Ukrainian, you know, determination will surely shrink and whose interest would be served with that?

So this is really a dilemma.

>> And the Americans and the Europeans have had divergent perspectives for a while on Russia that are now aligning.

They've also had some divergent perspectives on China for a while.

Are they now aligning?

>> I think there is one lesson we are learning, we Europeans.

We cannot ignore that the U.S. is looking at a huge problem, potential problem with China, with the Taiwan issue, et cetera, and we cannot possibly leave the United States alone in that.

In other words, we need to understand that even though this is many thousands of miles away, it is in our interest to get involved, maybe not militarily.

We don't have the capacities militarily, but certainly politically.

And we need much closer coordination between Washington and Brussels and Berlin and Paris on China.

>> And Olaf Scholz so far, when you saw that initial speech he gave, the "turning point" speech, did it reflect for you a new strategic vision for Germany?

Is this a new generation for Germany in politics, or is it more modest than that?

>> No, it was a major... a major decision.

Look, essential elements of established German foreign policy went up the chimney.

>> We'd say out the window.

>> Out the window.

>> That sounds more definitive if it's up the chimney.

>> Out the window.

The idea which we had been about, which we had been preaching for many years, you know, the future partnership with Russia out the window, no longer possible.

The idea of a security order for all of Europe, with Russia included, out the window.

In other words, for no country has this Russian attack against Ukraine produced more sharp cuts and the need for total revision of our foreign policy.

The problem for Olaf Scholz is not that he gave the wrong speech.

The problem for him is that it's not so clear that all of his followers in his own party agree with his speech and with the consequences of spending a hundred billion extra on defense and on meeting the 2% defense goal going forward, et cetera.

So he has to fight this internal, you know, political fight, not against the opposition, which supports him, but against his own party.

>> The Americans have been saying for a long time, how come the Europeans aren't sacrificing?

The Germans, the Europeans are sacrificing more this time around.

There's no question.

>> Absolutely.

>> Wolfgang Ischinger, good to see you.

>> Thanks, Ian.

Great to see you.

♪♪ >> This year's World Economic Forum wasn't just about the many crises we're facing.

It's also a referendum on the forum itself and the strength of the multilateral values it defends.

I talked about that with Venezuelan journalist Moisés Naím.

Here's our conversation.

Moisés Naím, you always talk about power, and standing here in the World Economic Forum, I want to ask you, how much power do you think this group really has today and how's it moving?

>> Well, it is always easy to overstate the power here and what happens.

This is a meeting in which there is a lot of interaction.

There's a lot of conversations, but it's not the center point in which decisions are made.

The essence of power emanating of meetings like these has to do with ideas and the clarity of ideas.

And the dominant feeling that I have gotten from the meeting that it is confusion -- confusion reigns.

Confusion is a leitmotiv of this meeting.

People don't know what is happening.

A very famous Spanish philosopher, José Ortega, said in 1939 he saw what was coming in Europe and he said, "We don't know what is happening to us."

And that is exactly what is happening to us.

And I think that captures very well the mood here in which everybody feels and knows that there are these massive changes of uncertain consequences.

And that then generates the anxiety, the doubts about everything, and that, of course, erodes power.

>> The last time there was this level of crisis at the World Economic Forum was 2009.

It was right in the heat of the global financial crisis, and people didn't necessarily know how we were going to come out of it, but they all knew what the tools were.

They all understood the nature of the crisis.

This time around, it feels very different.

It's more diffuse, and they don't understand how to respond.

>> And it's more without precedent.

The 2009 financial crisis came in the heels of many financial crises around the world.

So the world was equipped with institutions and policies and ideas, as you say, how to deal with a financial collapse.

That's not the case here.

We are dealing with uncertain situations that have no precedents.

And that also adds to the confusion that I just mentioned.

>> So if we look forward five years' time, where is the locus of power going to be that will surprise us?

What institutions, what geographies?

>> In the future, power is going to continue -- will continue to be concentrated in algorithms and leaders and their followers.

That triad is going to stay with us.

What we don't know is what are the sectoral anchors of that or the geographical anchors.

But artificial intelligence is going to have consequences for power, as will new kinds of leaders and new kinds of followers that expect and demand from their political leaders things that have not been common until now.

>> Do you think that continued development in artificial intelligence is necessarily a centralizing aspect, a consolidating aspect of power?

>> It's both.

It's a technology, and all technologies are two -- double-edged swords.

Technologies can be very good for some things and very bad for others.

There's no doubt that artificial intelligence is going to be a technology that is going to touch all sectors and transform them in very surprising ways.

And we're going to be surprised by the kinds of places where artificial intelligence will pop up.

And this may change completely what we know about that space.

>> One other point.

Latin America is virtually not on the agenda this year.

It's a part of the world you know very, very well.

If you could insert Latin America on the agenda in a big way, what would you want to be discussed here?

>> The very dangerous convergence of inflation and disappointment with democracy.

The world is going to face inflation for the first time in several dec-- almost a generation.

We are living with a generation of people that don't know what inflation is, and the inflation is coming and it's coming at the same time that there is a lot of disappointment with the performance of democracy.

And so that's a perfect storm to create nasty politics.

>> And which country that's a strong democracy right now night not be in a few years in Latin America?

>> I don't know.

>> You don't want to make that assessment there.

Did you like the fact that the Americans were reaching out to the Venezuelans on the energy front?

>> I hope that something like that happens, but not in the way it's happening.

I think it's being managed in a way that is haphazard, not well thought through and ineffective.

I hope that the current ways of thinking about how to deal with Venezuela at the White House, at the State Department will be revised, reviewed and tossed, and other ways of engaging will be found.

>> Good to see you, Moisés.

>> Same here.

♪♪ >> Finally, journalist Gillian Tett chairs the editorial board at the Financial Times.

She spent time meeting with the entire Ukrainian delegation here in Davos and shared with me some of what she learned.

Gillian Tett, last night, you were with the entire Ukrainian delegation.

An emotional time for you.

Tell me what you took away from that meeting.

>> Well, the first thing I took away was the fact that the Ukrainians are being exceptionally clever in terms of trying to rally support in the West by coming here.

I mean, it's quite remarkable that we had the mayors of a number of Ukrainian cities, a lot of the government figures, many people in civil society coming all the way to Davos to basically try and persuade the West that they need to rally support around them and not just support them in terms of ending the war through sanctions and other measures and trying to get military support, but also very actively now thinking about rebuilding and about the Marshall Plan.

>> And I mean, this -- Davos is not a place typically that you would expect to see a Ukrainian delegation rallying for support.

They've gotten away with it because of the sheer brutality of the Russians, but also because of the trauma that is so evidently and abundantly being experienced by everyone in delegation.

>> Well, I think what's very clear is listening to the stories about the horrific events happening on the ground in Ukraine, even as we speak.

It's injecting a level of emotion and shock into what's, frankly, normally, often very dry and boring and wordy debates.

And there's a huge amount of goodwill here.

There's a huge recognition that what they're fighting for are values that Davos itself has often tried to reclaim or say that it espouses.

There's also a recognition that eventually there will be some kind of business opportunity in Ukraine for many people here, and they're looking for that as well.

But in the short to medium term, the other issues, of course, are questions of food security, the questions around sanctions and how they're going to impact the global economy.

And people are saying, "Yes, we absolutely support you, but there are also concerns we have."

>> Now, on the sanctions piece, something the Financial Times is surely very interested in, I mean, we have an awful lot of assets that are being confiscated and there's a lot of talk about taking those assets and helping to pay off the Ukrainians who have just been invaded by Russia.

I've heard a lot of people criticizing that on the sidelines of this global group.

What's your take?

>> I've heard lots of concern about that as well, not just from American financiers and lawyers who say, "What about the due process element of all this?

You know, we want to have some kind of framework of due process," but also from the non-Western investors who have been investing in America or Europe in recent years is saying, "Well, hang on a sec.

If due process is being overturned, what will it mean for us looking at America as an investment destination?"

Now, the Ukrainians are aware of this and they've come up with a number of documents which are trying to create some kind of framework and due process around this, which they've been passing around to people in recent days.

And it's going to be very interesting because there are a number of techniques and tools you can use that already exist under U.S. law and in jurisdictions like France and Netherlands, which actually would allow you to do quite a lot of action right now.

The question, though, is whether they're solid enough and whether the people in Davos will rally around any of the Ukrainian proposals around a due process.

>> So maybe, but what you're saying is we're not there yet.

>> Not there yet.

And it's going be very tough.

>> Gillian Tett.

>> Thank you.

>> Thank you.

♪♪ Ukraine was obviously at the top of the agenda all week at the World Economic Forum.

But one Ukrainian made sure that the war and the brutal reality of the Russian invasion were also right in the center of town.

Here's GZERO Media's report.

>> This is about an overload of evidence of war crimes.

Everything that you see here are attacks against civilian infrastructure or against civilians.

>> The war in Ukraine entered its third month as the 2022 World Economic Forum got underway in Davos, Switzerland.

The conflict was not only at the top of the agenda, it was on display in the center of town.

Russian War Crimes House, located just blocks from the famous Congress Centre where the forum is held, raises awareness of the civilian casualties sustained in Ukraine since the start of the war.

As the exhibition opened, the UN reported nearly 4,000 civilian deaths.

Nearly 300 of them were children.

Russia denies targeting civilians in Ukraine.

Bjorn Geldhof is artistic director of the War Crimes Installation.

>> We have made a research, bringing together 4,683 images, which all have been verified, which all have been fact-checked because we're battling also against misinformation.

And one of the things that we need to share is what really goes on.

And this is what this exhibition is about.

>> And this installation is actually paid for by a Ukrainian businessman and philanthropist named Victor Pinchuk.

The space itself was chosen symbolically.

This is the same house where Russian oligarchs used to hold lavish events during the World Economic Forum.

There are no Russian delegates in attendance this year.

They were not invited because of the invasion of Ukraine.

>> This used to be the Russian house.

This used to be the place where Russia presented itself to the world.

And I think today we're also presenting Russia as it is.

But we are showing a different reality of Russia, a reality where it commits war crimes at this time in Ukraine, killing, targeting specifically civilians with the goal to destroy Ukraine as a nation.

>> This year's forum was dominated by conversations about the war and Ukraine's role in the world.

President Volodymyr Zelensky opened the session with an impassioned plea for tougher sanctions on Russia and economic support to rebuild his shattered nation.

A robust Ukrainian delegation, including Kyiv's mayor Vitali Klitschko, captured the attention of foreign attendees and the international media alike.

>> And I want to say thank you very much for doing everything to stop this senseless war.

>> At an event featuring the delegation, an impromptu version of the Ukrainian national anthem brought guests to their feet.

[ All singing "State Anthem of Ukraine" ] ♪♪ Geldhof told us he hopes the more than 2,000 leaders who gathered in Davos would take the message of his exhibit home.

>> We need sustainable support for Ukraine, and we need it over the long term.

But not only is it about survival of Ukraine, Ukraine is defending those values that we stand for.

And if we want these values to survive, Ukraine needs to be victorious.

>> For "GZERO World," I'm Tony Maciulis.

♪♪ >> And now to "Puppet Regime," where President Joe Biden tries to refresh his image before the midterms.

Good luck with that.

>> With his poll numbers in the gutter, President Biden is trying to rebrand himself ahead of the midterms.

>> Gosh darn it.

My approval rating's plummeting faster than my energy levels after breakfast.

We got to reframe the Joe Biden narrative.

Hey, kids, remember that time I wandered offstage looking for a hand to shake?

Well, you got that one wrong.

I was actually debuting my new dance for the TokTik.

I call it the invisible hand.

Cardi B is going to love it.

You want to see me do the worm?

Okay, you guys on the comms team are doing a great job.

"Putin price hike's" Got a real ring to it.

Let's do some more.

I got a couple ideas like COVID, it's been demoted.

>> Ooh, that's a good one.

>> Or how about your job's bad 'cause of Vlad?

>> Excellent!

>> Brilliant.

>> Or let's launch our own NFT.

It's called No For Trump.

>> Yes!

>> Superb.

>> Some of you out there call me Sleepy Joe.

But what you don't know is that really, I'm practicing meditation.

It's called self-care, you idiots.

I think you millennials know a thing or two about self-care.

Heck, you sure ain't working that hard.

[ Needle scratches ] What?

I should ditch that last part?

>> "Puppet Regime"!

>> That's our show this week.

Come back next week if you like what you see or you just want to hang out in Switzerland with me next year.

You know what to do.

Check us out on gzeromedia.com.

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ >> Major corporate funding provided by founding sponsor First Republic.

At First Republic, our clients come first.

Taking the time to listen helps us provide customized banking and wealth-management solutions.

More on our clients at firstrepublic.com.

Additional funding provided by... ...and by...